Hi,

What grade is recoomended for sanding down between coats of
undercloat/primer ?

I rubbed down some door frames with 80 grit and have used some all in one
primer/undercoat and was just wondering what grit would be suitable to give
it a gentle down down before glossing ?

Or do I need wet and dry ?

Matthew.Ridges wrote:
Hi,

What grade is recoomended for sanding down between coats of
undercloat/primer ?

I rubbed down some door frames with 80 grit and have used some all in
one primer/undercoat and was just wondering what grit would be
suitable to give it a gentle down down before glossing ?

Or do I need wet and dry ?

All is revealed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpaper


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

"Matthew.Ridges" wrote in message
...
Hi,

What grade is recoomended for sanding down between coats of
undercloat/primer ?

I rubbed down some door frames with 80 grit and have used some all in one
primer/undercoat and was just wondering what grit would be suitable to
give it a gentle down down before glossing ?

Or do I need wet and dry ?

Don't use sandpaper: for the bottom of the budgie cage is about all it's
good for.

Wet and dry is OK - it tends to be nice and sharp - but not actually wet if
its on water based paint or there is any bare wood showing.

Abrasive grades are peculiar things and I have to admit I don't quite
understand, how two makes with the same numbers on can be completely
different - some will cut and stay clog free for ages, others block almost
straight away.

Unless you went along the grain with your 80 grit it will have left grooves
too deep for paint to fill that will look horrible - except horrible 'one
coat' paints that just leave huge brush marks instead.

Now, if you have used water based primer, you will probably find that
anything you try to rub down with simply cloggs up and rips the nasty stuff
off again. The only way I could find round this was to scrape the rubbish
off with a scarsden scraper, which if you are careful also gives a smooth
finish. Then prime with some hard varnish that you can sand smooth with a
fine-ish paper (cloth if poss).

Then, if you can find it, get a roll of 120 grade CLOTH BACKED alox
abrasive. I kid you not. Last summer I was rubbing down windows with a
roll of paper backed stuff, and spending all my time picking the lumps off
it and changing torn pieces. Meanwhile, a carpenter, putting in a whole new
window used just a couple of pieces of cloth backed stuff ( sadly the bits
didn't have the writing on the back...). Once the carpenter had gone, I
found the bits he had been using, still sharp, in the bin, retrieved them,
and have been using them ever since!

So unless you are a perfectionist, that is what I would recommend. If you
want to give a final key before a top coat, a say 400 or 600 grade of the
white sheets is sufficient. (A sprinkling of talc helps keep them fairly
unclogged,)

Another tip to save slipping around: get yourself a roll of double sided
tape. Cut an oblong piece of your abrasive of a suitable size (4"x2" fits
under the fingers nicely.), then fold it in half and stick the two halves
together with a piece of the double sided tape. That really does put power
under your finger tips. The other advantage is that as the edges get used
up, you can trim down to a new bit with scissors.

Also, keep a wire brush in your back pocket, to unclog the abrasive
regularly - often just thumping it with the wire will remove the lumps. And
a decent sized bodkin or other spike is good for picking off any stubborn
lumps of paint (if you leave them they scratch up your paint more than
smoothing it.).

And vacuum down with a soft brush attachment before you paint - with your
good (not yukky ptfe) paintbrushes. Try to paint with upward strokes and
the brush pointing downwards, so the paint goes where you want it rather
than clogging the brush and running up your arm. And keep extending the
same edge of wet paint: don't be tempted to go back: you'll get the missed
bits with the next coat.

Lots of thin coats (with thinned paint) gives a better finish than one thick
one.

All rather depends on how good you want it to be and how much time you have.
One last trick: now we have electric screwdrivers it can be easier to take
the moveable windows out and paint them flat. Just don't drop them when you
put them back! (And number them with a chinagraph to make sure they go back
in the right openings.)

Hmm: this was just meant to be a quick one !

Cheers,
S

On Apr 6, 2:54*pm, "Matthew.Ridges" wrote:
Hi,

What grade is recoomended for sanding down between coats of
undercloat/primer ?

I rubbed down some door frames with 80 grit and have used some all in one
primer/undercoat and was just wondering what grit would be suitable to give
it a gentle down down before glossing ?

Or do I need wet and dry ?

80g was to course for the wood, you should have gone to 180-220,
unless the primer is a sandable type you will have to wait a long time
for it to cure hard enough and not clog paper and then it should be
220g if you are using oil as a finish, if its latex probably non is
really necessary since latex dries to fast any way. You gove no
mention of what products you are using, a real paint store would get
you what you need

John Rumm wrote:
Matthew.Ridges wrote:
Hi,

What grade is recoomended for sanding down between coats of
undercloat/primer ?

a 240 grit or finer... some 400 grit wet'n'dry usually works nicely for
ne-nibbing.

I rubbed down some door frames with 80 grit and have used some all in
one primer/undercoat and was just wondering what grit would be
suitable to give it a gentle down down before glossing ?

Or do I need wet and dry ?

You don't need it in the sense of needing the wet use ability, but
sometimes its easier to find very fine papers in that form.


The decorators rolls from SF are good value for applications where the
paper is going to clog before the abrasive wears out. IME this includes
most surfaces, not just painted ones.

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
John Rumm wrote:
Matthew.Ridges wrote:
Hi,

What grade is recoomended for sanding down between coats of
undercloat/primer ?

a 240 grit or finer... some 400 grit wet'n'dry usually works nicely for
ne-nibbing.

I rubbed down some door frames with 80 grit and have used some all in
one primer/undercoat and was just wondering what grit would be suitable
to give it a gentle down down before glossing ?

Or do I need wet and dry ?

You don't need it in the sense of needing the wet use ability, but
sometimes its easier to find very fine papers in that form.


The decorators rolls from SF are good value for applications where the
paper is going to clog before the abrasive wears out. IME this includes
most surfaces, not just painted ones.

Shame Screwfix don't specify their rolls as paper or cloth, Rolled up they
look v similar and even the staff at our local branch didn't know, till I
got them to open one. and it was paper: and the one's I.'d already had from
them had very little bite - more like sandpaper in fact, Shame cos I'd like
a roll of the good cloth stuff (that I could afford...)

S

S